Victory in Europe Day in France:The Day the Bells Rang Again

Three weeks after VE Day, bacon rations were cut. By 1946, bread rationing began in Britain, something that had never happened during the war itself.

The French city of Orléans marks both VE Day and the anniversary of Joan of Arc lifting the Siege of Orléans, which occurred on May 8th, 1429, over 500 years ago.

The British government temporarily suspended the rationing of red, white, and blue bunting so people could decorate the streets. Photos show Soviet and American flags flying alongside Union Jacks across London.

When Prime Minister Bayrou suggested removing May 8th as a cost-cutting measure in 2025, polling showed 84% of French people were against it. Bayrou was toppled as PM shortly after.

The same ceremony is playing out in every village, town, and city. The mayor, the local council, veterans' associations, firefighters and schoolchildren gather at the war memorial. The tricolour is raised. Wreaths are laid. The Sonnerie aux Morts, the French equivalent of the Last Post, is played as flag-bearers lower their standards. A minute of silence falls. Then La Marseillaise, and a reception at the town hall.

In Paris, President Macron drives up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and stands before the eternal flame that has burned there since 1923. Some people wear a bleuet, a cornflower, the French flower of remembrance, pinned to their jacket. Banks and offices are shut. Many restaurants are full. This year, falling on a Friday, it has created a three-day weekend, a pont, as the French call it.